Game apparatus



W. E. BLACKBURN. GAME APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13. 1920. 1,390,270. Patentedsept- 13,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

I NVENTOR WEBZackzzrra BY ATTO EY W. E. BLACKBURN.

GAME APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13, 1920.

1,390,270. PatentedSept. 13,1921.

. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR WEBZQCZ$5 zuva,

UNITED STA'I ES PATENT OFFICE.

WILMUTH E. BLACKBURN, OF SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY.

GAME APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent- Patented Sept. 13, 1921 Application filed March 13, 1920. Serial No. 365,559.

To all whom it may concern:

lie it known that I, \YILMUTH BLACK- mnx, a citizen of the United States, re-

siding at Summit, in the county 'of Union,

, larly to the mechanism for scoring the points made by the players of the game.

While game apparatus of the general type disclosed herein has been'heretofore provided-as shown, for instance, in prior patents granted to 1ne-these have generally been of the permanently-installed type, structures designed for special installations, as, for instance, places of amusement, etc. Under these conditions structures of this type are required to be able to withstand heavy service conditions, more or less comio'mitted todisclose-the interior of the scorplicated registering mechanism, etc.,due to the fact that they are designed for paid amusement and must therefore be of a character to give a fair return for the payments required of the player.

()n the contrary, the presentinvention is designed more particularly for amusement purposes for children, capable of being set up indoors or outdoors-preferably the latter, where the grass of the lawn can be utilized as a runway for the playing balls. While the installation is therefore more or less stationary, it must be of a type of sufficient ruggedness and strength as to permit efiicient, service, and at the same time must be of sufficient lightness in weight as to be capable of being readily set up; and the apparatus must additionally be of a type to permit of low cost of manufacture and sale, since it is not designed for profit and must be capable of purchase by the average wage earner.

In meeting these conditions, I employ apparatus of simple form, capable of giving the desired movement of the playing ball to invoke the bossibilities of chance, and provide pocket structures into which the delivered ball may pass, the several pockets being operatively mounted relative to an accumulating scoring structure by means of which the results of the delivery of the desired number of balls will register the total score as well as the scores accumulated aft-er each delivery, the scoring apparatusbeing of a simple and eflicient type and capable of ready re-setting, the whole being arranged in a manner to permit of the playing of the game by the average child without liability of damaging the apparatus.

To these and other ends, therefore, the nature of which will be readily understood as the invention is hereinafter disclosed, said invention consists in the improved construction and combination of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts in each of the viewS,-.

-F1gure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of apparatus which may be employed in carrying out the general princlples of the present invention.

Fig. 2 isa rear view, the rear wall being ing mechanism compartment.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2. i

Fig. 4 is aperspective detail showing the mounting of the retaining pawl structure.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of a preferred form of scoring element.

actuating levers.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, (a designates a horizontally-extending member adapted to rest upon the floor, ground, etc., the advance end of the member being shown as curved upwardly, as at b and in rear of which is a depressed portion 1) sloping to, ward the rear of p the apparatus and into which balls may drop and pass rearward toward an opening 0 formed in a vertical wall 0 which forms the front wall of the scoring compartment, the latter being an inclosed vertically extending portion 10, and having a rear wall spaced from wall 0, sides. and. top and bottom, these forming the walls of the inclosure.

Projecting forwardly from the top of wall 0 is a board (1, supported in suitable manner, as by braces d, and below this board the face of wall 0 is rovidediwith a pair of pockets 6 and f, pre erably one above the other and, if desired, of different sizes, these leading to openings 6' and f in wall 0.

In use, the apparatus is located atthe end of a flat more or less smooth surface, as for instance the far side of a room, a lawn, etc.-,

u e s I Fig. 6 1s a perspective detail of one of the such surface forming a runway over which the ball is delivered onto the curved surface 6, this surface causing the ball to be trajected toward and into contact withthe' under surface of board dwhich may be considered as a baffle-and then dropping down ward, falling into one of the pockets or into portion b, the result being that it will pass through wall 0 into the inclos ed compartment, passing through either of the openings e, f or 0, depending upon the point where it drops after leaving the battle. Openings e" and f are scoring openings, while opening 0' simply passes the ball into the compartment on to an inclined wall 11 which directs the ball toward an opening 0 which forms the entrance to a return runway g having discharge outlet 9. It is obvious that runway 9 may be omitted'and the balls be permitted to deliver directly from the compartment, but the disclosed arrangement is preferred, since it maintains the scoring compartment closed and not liable to have its mechanism deranged by inquisitive players or others who could readily gain access to the compartment through a delivery opening.

Inclosure 10 contains the scoring mechanism which is of simple character capable of accumulative indication within a comparatively small range. For instance, in the particular form shown in'the drawings, it is as sumed that each player will deliver five balls in playing the game, with the maximum score possible as 100, the pocket e being givena value of 20 and pocket I a value of 10 these values being, of course, illustrative; v

The score-carrying elementis in the form of a frame 12 composed of side rails 12 connected at spaced intervalsby rods 12", the faceof the frame carrying a succession of indications of accumulative values based on the value of the smallest scoring pocketin the illustrationthe values are a succession of accumulated tens, this being the value of pocket f. These indications may be in any desired form, Fig. 5 indicating them as carried by plates or cards 12, the lowest value being arranged at the top of the frame, this latter-being adapted to normally rest upon a support 13 carried by wall a, the parts being arranged so that in this position the upper plate 12 will expose O in rear of an ex posure opening hin wall 0.

During the playing of the game, the delivery of a. ball into either of the scoring pockets operates to raise frame 12 a distance sufficient to "expose an indication representing the value of the pocket added to a previous1y-exposed indication. For instance, if 0 is exposed, and the first ball enters pocket 6, the frame will be raised to expose the indication 20; if the succeeding ball enters pocket f, the frame will be raised to j'acent rods add ten, so that the succeeding exposed indication will be 30. L This operation is provided by the following mechanism.

Frame 12 extends vertically in rear of wall a, resting. between suitable idlers 14 and within a keeper 15, thus providing for Vertical travel of the frame. Pivotally mounted on the rear of wall 0 is an element 16, said element being located below the opening e', the element being positioned to have its inner end in position so that a ball passing through said opening will pass on to such inner end and roll therealong on a pair of guides 16? toward the extreme end of the element. The ball is delivered on to the guides beyond the element pivotas by the use of an inclined way 17, for instance, so that the weight of theball will tilt the element to the dotted linev position in Fig; 2, the ball rolling'off the end of'the element and dropping on to wall 11 and in to runway y; the element is weighted so that when the ball passes off of the element the latter will return to the normal or full line position of Fig. 2. r

As will be understood this movement of element 16 will alternately raise and lower the forward end of the element relative to a supporting bracket 17, and this movement is utilized in producing movement to frame 12 through the use of a pivoted latch 18 carried by a stirrup 18 mounted at the forward end of element 16, the arrangement being such that latch or pawl 18 normally rests in an approximately horizontal plane with its'forward "end extending between ad- 12", the latch, in such position restlng on a stirrup portion as shown in Fig. 6. ,lVhen, therefore, the presence of a ball causes the element 16 to move away from its normal position, latch 18 will engage the rod above it and carry frame 12 upward a distance corresponding to the value of opening e 20 inthe example shown. When the ball is discharged, the return of element 16 to normal position causes the latch to be carried downward idling over the intervening rods and resuming a position between the proper adjacent rods-the frame being held in its moved position-by a latch structure now to be described.

As shown in F ig. 4, keeper 15 carries a pair of angle members 19 between which is located a pivoted latch 20, the latter having its forward end supported 0 the keeper 15, as for instance, the upper edge of the keeper or, as shown, the bottom of a slot 15' formed in the keeper. Latch 20 projects into the path of travel of rods 12*, the arrangement permitting a'rod to pass by the latch during upward travel of the frame-due to pivotal movement of the latch-the frame being prevented from returning by the contact of latch and keeper, the result being "engaged; in other words, if successive operations are of the 20 value, latch 20 will engage alternate rods, it being obvious that pawl 18 will have similar movement relative to the rods. When, however, pocket f receives the ball, the score to be added is but 10, and hence the frame should move up wardly a distance suflicient to cause latch 20 to engage the succeeding rod in place of the second rod. To produce this action I utilize element 16, but limit its pivotal movement to a distance suflicientto cause an upward movement of the frame sufficient to advancebut a single rod. The control of element 16 to produce this result is provided by a second element 21 more or less similar to element 16, but omittingthe pawl and stirrup, element 21 being located in proper relation to opening f, so that a ball passing through that opening provides a similar tilting movement to element 21 as is provided to element 16 by a ball passing through opening 6. To translate this movement of element 21 into the desired movement of element 16, I provide a rod'22 depending from element 16 and having a hooked lower end located in the path of travel of element 21, the arrangement being such that there is a sufficient lost motion relation between element 21 and such hook end, that engagement will behad between the two only when element 21 has moved downward a distance such that its remaining movement will cause element 16 to travel the desired distance to raise the frame but one indication, both elements returning to normal position when the ball rolls off of element 21.

By this arrangement element 16 becomes an actuating element for each scoring movement of the frame, with the element selectively controlled as to the distance traveled by the scoring source-the ball delivered-this being provided by the use of both elements, but one of which is, however, active with the frame.

If desired, element 21 may the hook member relative to element 21.

To re-set the frame to permit a new game, pawl 18 and latch 20 are disengaged from the rods and the frame'permitted to .rop by gravity, this result being obtained by the use of a suitable pull cord 24 connected to both pawl and latch-the cord preferably deliveries indicated by have a guide, member 23 to insure proper positioning of having a slack portion between the two since the two elements have different distances between the pivots and the engaging ends. When the cord is drawn, the pawl will raise the frame suflicient to disengage the pawl and rod and will also disengage the latch and rod, leaving the frame free to drop. Cord 24 is carried out of the inclosure 10, so that the player can readily provide the releasing action.

As will be understood the scoring mechanism is exceedingly simple both in structure and operation, ,so that the apparatus can be subjected to shocks and jars, etc.,

without damaging the mechanism, making it possible to set up the apparatus at any convenient point and transport it wherever desired. And by reason of the simple construction it will be understood that the apparatus. can be manufactured and sold at a comparatively low cost and therefore capable of general use as a childrens game.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred arrangement of parts, it will readily be understood that changes and modifications therein may be found desirable or essential in meeting the exigencies of service and of the trade, and I desire to be understood as reserving the right to make any and all suchchanges and modifications as may be found desirable or necessary, in so far as the same may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims when broadly construed.

WhatI claim as new is:

1. In game apparatus wherein a target is provided with a plurality of openings for the passage of delivered elements, with the openings having different scoring values, means for indicating the scores of delivered elements with the scores of a succession of their accumulated values, said means inc ding an indicationcarrier movable relative to an exposure opening in one direction during the delivery period and in the opposite direction during the re-setting period, a movable device for each of said scoring openings, and adapted to become active in the movement of the carrier during the delivery period, each device being positioned in the path of travel of an element passing through the associated opening with the device movable by and in the presence of the element, means for opera,- tively connecting one of said devices with the carrier to advance the latter, the length of carrier movement being dependent upon the extent of device movement, means made operativeby the movement of a second device for moving the first device. to an extent different from that provided in the normal movement of such first device, said means having the characteristics of a lost motion formation with respect to one of said device,

and means for retaining the carrier in its advanced positions during such delivery period.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterized in that the movable devices are p-ivotally supported with the individual length of the pivotal movement-of the respective devices equal one to the other when either is rendered active.

3. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterized in that the carrier movements are in a vertical direction with the advancing movement in an upward direction to move the carrier away from a fixed carrier support, means be ing provided for rendering the advancing means and the retaining means of the carrier inactive during the re-setting period to permit the carrier to return to position on its su port by gravity.

4. is a means for indicating the scores of a game apparatus having a. target carrying a plurality of openings differing in scoring value and wherein the scores of a succession of delivered elements are indicated in accumulated form, an indication-carrier movable vertically relativeto an ex osure opening, said carrier having a plura ity of members spaced apart distances corresponding to the distances of successive indications, a tiltable device positioned to be actuated by a delivered element passing through one of.

said openings, said device having means for engaging a carrier member to advance the carrier a definite distance by and in the presence of an element delivered thereto, means for retaining the carrier in its advanced position, and a second device positioned with respect to a second opening and operative by and in the presence of an element delivered thereto to tilt the first deviceto provide an advance movement of the carrier to a different distance, said devices individually having an equal length of movement when actuated by the delivered element.

5. As a means for indicating the scores of a game apparatus having a target carrying a plurality of openings differing in scoring value an wherein the scores of a succession of delivered elements are indicated in accumulated form, an indication-carrier movable vertically relative to an exposure opening, said carrier having a plurality of members spaced apart distances corresponding to the distances of successive indications, a tiltable device positioned to be actuated by a delivered element passin through one of said openings, said device having means for engaging a carrier member to advance the carrier a definite distance by and in the presence of an element delivered thereto, means for retaining the carrier in its advanced osition, and a second device positioned w th respect to a second opening and operative b and in the presence of an element delivered thereto to tilt the first device to provide an advance movement of the carrier to a distance less than such definite distance, said devices individually having an equal length of movement when actuated by the delivered element.

6. Means as in claim 4 characterized in that the device means comprises a pivoted dog adapted to normally extend between ad jacent carrier members and supported to engage a member and advance the carrier during tilting movementof the device in one direction, said dog being movable to become inactive relative to the carrier members during the tilting movement of the device in the opposite direction.

leans as in claim 5 characterized in that the operative connections between the first and second tiltable devices includes a hook-shaped member carried by the first de vice and extending into the path of movement of the second device, said member and second device being complementally formed to provide a lost-motion relation therebetween active during the movement of the second device.

8. Means as in claim 4 characterized in that the device means comprises a pivoted dog normally lying in the path of movement of the carrier members and supported to advance the carrier during tilting movement of the device in one direction, the retaining means comprising a pivoted latch also normally lying inthe path of'travel of the carrier members and supported to form a support for the carrier through engagement with a member upon completion of the advance movement provided by the pawl.

9. Means as in claim 4 characterized in that the device means comprises a pivoted dog normally lying in the path of movement of the carrier members andsupported to advance the carrier during tilting movement of the device in one direction, the retaining means comprising a pivoted latch also normally lying in the path of travelof the carrier members and supported to form a. support for the carrier through enga ement with a member upon completion of an advance movement provided by the pawl, means being provided for concurrently moving the pawl and latch to inactive position re ative to the carrier members to permit the carrier to return to a re-set position, the setting and resetting movements of dog and pawl being in the same direction.

10. Means as in claim 4 characterized in that the device means comprises a pivoted dog normally lying in the path of movement of the carrier members and supported to advance the carrier during tilting move- -ment of the device in one direction, the retaining means comprising a pivoted latch also normally lying in the path of travel of the carrier members and supported toform a support for the carrier through engagement with a member upon completion of the advance movement provided by the pawl, means being provided for concurrently moving the pawl and latch to inactive position relative to the carrier members to permit the carrier to return to a re-set position, the setting and resetting movements of dog and pawl being in the same direction, said latter means comprising a flexible element connecting the free ends of the pawl and latch and extending to a point accessible to the player of the game.

11. Means as in claim 4 characterized in that the device means-comprises a pivoted dog normally lying in the path of movement of the carrier members and supported to advance the carrier during tilting movement of the device in one direction, the retaining means comprising a pivoted latch also normally lying in the path of travel of the carrier members and supported to form a support for the carrier through engagement with a member upon completion of the advance movement rovided by the pawl, means being provi ed for concurrentlv moving the pawl and latch to inactive position relative to the carriermembers to permit the carrier to return to a re-set position, said latter means comprising a flexible element connecting the free ends of the pawl and latch and extending to a point acces' sible to the pla er of the game, the length of the element hetween the pawl-and latch being greater than the normal distance between these parts to provide a slack portion within the element.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my.

name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 3 day of March, 1920.

WILMUTH E. BLACKBURN. Witnesses:

J. A. HERM, Jr., H. L. TEATS. 

